MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Friday, Memphis Mayor Paul Young and other leaders attended a ribbon-cutting for the new free resource hub at the Greenlaw Community Center.
In 2023, the City of Memphis said they planned to use the community center as a place to hold juveniles who were out past curfew. But after people pushed back, they decided to go a different route.
“We are a model of how something so bad can turn out to be something so great.” said Uptown resident Tanja Mitchell, who has lived in the neighborhood since 2005.
In years past, Uptown Memphis was once the home of a place known as Hurt Village.
“It was one of the most dangerous housing projects in the U.S.,” Mitchell said.
Now Mitchell hopes Uptown can once again be an example of how Memphis can change for the better. The resource hub at the Greenlaw Community Center is part of a joint effort between the Shelby County Division of Community Services and Memphis Parks.
“We know that there is a significant need here in this community. We have a 25 percent poverty rate,” said Shelby County Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Dorcas Young Griffin.
Organizations such as the Aging Commission, Crime Victims & Rape Crisis Center, Youth & Family Resource Center, and the Community Services Agency will all be involved in providing services like victim reimbursement, health consultations, counselling, rental assistance and more.
“Now they’ll have someone right here in the community that can answer the questions that they have around how to get those services,” Mayor Young said.
The mayor believes city and county leaders have to continue to be an example when it comes to making the needs of Memphians.
“There’s often a lot of distrust in government, and that’s just the nature of the beast,” Mayor Young said. “But I think we can change that narrative by getting different results for the people in our city.”
The City of Memphis is in charge of operating 30 community centers, and the goal is to open free resource hubs across the city, ideally one in each council district.